The north-west corner of Upminster’s main crossroads, which was known to many older residents as Burtons Corner and to earlier generations as Chestnuts or Aggiss’s Corner, was developed over a long period.
Continue readingChestnuts corner – north-west of the main crossroads
Posted in Upminster Buildings & Places
Tagged Broadway Stores, Col Brydges Branfill, Dowsing & Davis, Father Michael John Healy, Field Cottage, Frank Norledge, Hoof Hall, local-history, Locksley Villa, Mavisbank Upminster, Millfield, Montague Burton tailors, Rose Cottage, Samuel Hammond, St Joseph's RC Church, Thameside Printing Ltd, The Avenue Cottages, The Chestnuts, Thomas Lewis Wilson, Upminster
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Picturing the Branfill Family – The Final Chapter?
My last post updated the story of various portraits owned by the Branfill family with the discovery that several of the paintings which hung in Upminster Hall were sold at auction in 2023 and that a family member still owned others. I hoped that the story wasn’t yet over, and I can now confirm another, possibly final, chapter of the story!
Continue readingPicturing the Branfill Family – Revisited
Three years ago, in my article “Picturing the Branfill Family” I wrote about an old photo album containing photos, taken in the 1920s or 1930s or earlier, of various portraits of Branfill family members, including several which hung in Upminster Hall, which was bought on EBay by one of my contacts. This article updates the story about the recent discovery that several of the Upminster Hall paintings were sold at an auction last year, and my subsequent contact with the owner of most of these other paintings.
Continue readingUpminster in Living Memory Revisited
It’s been over twenty years since the publication in 2000 of Upminster in Living Memory – a collection of eight memoirs of folk born between 1905 and 1933 who grew up or lived in Upminster when it was still very much an Essex beauty spot. In those two decades more records have become available to flesh out detail to the people mentioned by the authors, and this article explores those memories with a fresh eye and add further background research.
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Posted in Upminster People & Events
Tagged A D Macgregor, Bassett Confectioners Upminster, Brian Moore, Cranston Park Estate, Emerson Park School, Gaynes School, Gerald Sykes Choirmaster, Great Gaynes, Hacton, Harold Moore Hill Stores, Hilda Halestrap, May Festival, Muriel Sharp, New Place, Park Corner Farm, Rowe Family, Tadlows, Upminster's Bonanza
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God’s Acre – St Laurence Churchyard
By tradition known as “God’s Acre”, the parish churchyard is the place where generations of parishioners found their final resting place. The churchyard of St Laurence is no exception, with some gravestones and tombs dating back over three hundred years to the eighteenth century while some others date to more recent times.
Continue readingPicturing the Branfill family
The Branfill family of Upminster Hall were prominent landowners in Upminster for over two hundred years from 1685 but we have had no images to show us what they looked like. Upminster’s historian Thomas Lewis Wilson recorded a long list of 23 portraits of the Branfills and other relations which were hanging in Upminster Hall in 1881. Wilson included an engraving by Benjamin Branfill of one family member, but apart from a bust of Andrew Branfill (1640-1709) on his memorial in Upminster Church the family’s images have remained mystery. Until now that is.
Continue readingUpminster: The Story of a Garden Suburb – 25 years on
It hardly seems possible that it is now 25 years since Upminster: the Story of Garden Suburb was launched with a book signing in the Roomes Store on Station Road, Upminster on Saturday 9th November 1996.
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Old Upminster 